Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 184 — ‘Trial and Error’

Jenna Wade has her day in court in “Trial and Error,” although I’m not sure why we should care. Now that Pam’s search for Mark Graison has come up empty, “Dallas” clearly is paving the way for her to reunite with Bobby. This episode is full of hints: J.R. tells Sly he’s worried “that Barnes woman is going to be back on Bobby like a fly on honey,” and Bobby tells Christopher how much he misses the boy’s mother. All this reduces Jenna to a plot device — one last obstacle for the show’s star-crossed lovers to overcome before they reconcile. Who gives a fig what happens to her?

“Trial and Error” nonetheless plows forward with Jenna’s legal travails, asking us to concern ourselves with whether she’ll be found guilty or innocent of killing her ex-husband Naldo Marchetta, another character no one liked or cared about. There are some entertaining moments during this episode’s courtroom scenes, including the “gotcha”-style cross-examination of the ballistics expert by Jenna’s flamboyant attorney Scotty Demarest, played by the great Stephen Elliott. It’s fun to watch Scotty trick the man into undermining his own expertise, and who doesn’t get a kick out of hearing Elliott suggest the gun used to kill Naldo was equipped with a “sy-lun-suh.” I also applaud the show for casting Allan Miller as the prosecutor Hoskins, whose polish contrasts nicely with Scotty’s homespun charms.

Mostly, though, Jenna’s trial is another example of “Dallas” stretching out its eighth-season storylines to complete CBS’s staggering 30-episode order. Two witnesses are minor characters from earlier episodes: the motel manager who heard Jenna and Naldo fighting and the police officer who found her holding the gun next to his dead body. The show even supplements their testimony with flashbacks, which feel more like filler than useful refreshers for the audience. “Dallas” also tries to generate drama by having Bobby called to the stand as a reluctant witness against Jenna, although I think it would have been more effective to have him testify on her behalf. Maybe then he could explain why he plans to marry her when his heart belongs to someone else.

The whole thing reminds me of Ann Ewing’s shooting trial on TNT’s “Dallas” sequel, except that storyline at least shed light into Brenda Strong’s character. What has Jenna’s experience taught us, except that Priscilla Beaulieu Presley has mastered the art of looking beautiful while frowning? Ann’s trial also had the benefit of being contained to a single episode (also titled “Trial and Error”), although don’t assume that’s because television generally moves faster these days. The Julie Grey and Hutch McKinney murder trials from “Dallas’s” early years also zipped along quickly. Jenna’s case will consume three episodes altogether — a trilogy of tedium.

The “Who Killed Naldo?” saga isn’t the only thing weighing down “Dallas” during the eighth season’s last gasp. “Trial and Error” picks up where the previous hour left off, as Pam dashes out of the medical clinic after discovering Mark isn’t there. It’s good to see Sue Ellen comfort Pam — their renewed friendship has become one of the show’s most satisfying relationships during the eighth season — although there’s no good reason for the women to spend the rest of the episode hanging around Hong Kong. I also like how Ray’s alliance with his brothers in the fight over Ewing Oil caused problems in his marriage in earlier episodes, but his anger over Donna’s oil strike in “Trial and Error” is an eye-roller. How many more times are we going to watch him get jealous over his wife’s professional success?

Likewise, “Trial and Error” shows Mandy once again wondering if she should be getting involved with J.R. I’ve lost track of how many times this conversation has played out. The dialogue also is confusing because it suggests the characters haven’t slept together, but I thought they had sex during their hotel encounter in “Bail Out.” In that scene, Mandy splashes champagne in J.R.’s face, he grabs and begins kissing her and then the show cuts for a commercial break. Are we not supposed to assume J.R. and Mandy kept going after that moment? Or could it be this season has gone on so long, the writers have forgotten what’s happened?

Comments

Great critique CB you hit the nail on these evaluations of the storylines. The Jenna trial, when it first aired I was excited because I was hoping they find her guilty in the sense that maybe this will start pulling Pam and Bobby into each other’s arms. Now after seeing it again I fast forward and find it extremely boring. The Ray and Donna marriage trouble due to him joining his brothers on the fight for Ewing Oil was an up and down for me, up in the sense that they got a good story as a couple and down for me due to the repeating and annoying jealousy of Ray over his wife’s achievements (shouldn’t he be pass that by now?) I did like Sue Ellen and Pam scenes, although I hated the fact that Pam was mourning about not finding this idiot VP was great in the emotional scenes, she can do crying real good. The best scene for me was the one between Christopher and Bobby, they both love and miss mommy a lot. I hated the Mandy and JR scenes, it felt like they were forcing this relationship just to drive more wedge between JR and Sue Ellen’s relationship, after awhile it does get boring, sorry but DS was not a good actress (come on she did shows like Charlie’s Angels and Sheena warrior princess for God sake) This is the third episode that is lack luster for Season 8 are the writers getting really bored, tired or are the creative skills continuing to go south?

Ray Krebbs should have I believe legally added the “Ewing” moniker to his last name. To me that would have given him more punch & strength in potential battles with his 3 half brothers (yes even Brother Bobby.)

Question: Do we know who directed the scenes in Hong Kong? They have been spread over three episodes which had Havinga, Preece and now Hagman directing. At most I have to believe only one of them would have went. Or maybe it was all a fourth “second unit” type guy.

Continuity across scenes was terrible in those days. The gun on the floor in the hotel room appeared to be a revolver. Yet, the gun shown in the courtroom was a semi-automatic pistol (Beretta .380). At least they were both black guns. Lol.